Sound on sound, delay pedal, loop pedal? Some thoughts

[Zben3129]

What about this (for what Gilmour used, not for something to DIY)

Perhaps it was a double delay pedal, 2 channels. When one channel was switched on, the other was switched off. This way for each chord change he could step on the other delay half.

This wouldn't solve the fade on the chords, however. Perhaps something feeding back into itself somehow with a noise gate?


Zach

[Rocket Roll]

...I can't figure out how you make the chord changes work though, because it doesn't sound like Gilmour is letting the delay die away before playing another chord. Perhaps there's more to it than Pete Cornish is letting on.

There's definitely more to it than just "sound on sound", chord changes are too smooth and not constant in duration. One can replicate "sound on sound" effects chain using a guitar VST software like AmpliTube or Guitar Rig, but there's no way to stop the previous chord from repeating when you add a new one. Two or three chord changes, and there's just a mush of sound.

[Ben N]

I dug my old Ernie Ball stereo/pan vol pedal. I'll try to play around with this tonight. A this point it seems like using a looper fixes the chord change problem, but requires three feet to pull off, whereas using a long delay you are very soon in the realm of 12-note chords! Maybe the key is setting the delay time and feedback to roughly match the time of the long chords, so there is enough decay that even if the new chord is briefly layered on top of the old one, the new one dominates, esp in conjunction with the matching solo notes; then just laying off the sound on sound when the chord changes come more quickly. Come to think of it, this ought to work for Shine On. I think that is what this guy is doing, and he uses just the volume pedal into his zoom for the "loop": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kke2FI4Kno0

Just looking again at that first U-tube, the guy has his DD6 set to Warp and everything at max--that is where the chords ring. His Pod delay delay is on 383ms, 50% feedback and 51% mix. The Pod is apparently just for (rather obnoxious) echo, right? Or does it add a smoothing function also? He does not use a vol pedal, just waits for the chord to decay enough when he clicks on the DD6 loop that there is no obvious attack left.

[Ben N]

OK, update: I wired up the pan pedal with the Headrush, with both of them feeding inputs on the amp. I noticed the Headrush manual suggests using the Tape Delay position for sound on sound, but I found the delay too short. But using the "normal delay" position, set for a long delay (about 3-4 oclock on the Headrush, don't know what that comes to...) and a lot, but not maximum, feedback (also 3-4 o'clock), and max level, gave long enough undulating delay for a leisurely SOYCD-style set of changes, but with enough decay that each new change rang clear over whatever was left of the last one. I found that a shorter feedback setting made the chord die out too quickly, and a longer one made it close to infinite, neither of which works well. Presumably you would set the delay time and/or feedback differently for a differently paced song. Working the swells with the pedal worked fine. For quicker changes, I could always just cycle the pedal off and on before swelling, although that isn't something you would want to do constantly. I haven't tried it yet, but I think sticking a compressor between the pan pedal and the delay ought to help smooth out the chords into a more organ-like continuity, too.

So what, exactly, does Cornish's SOS unit do, other than buffering and providing panel space for jacks?